Charlie Nash (born 1951 in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

), is a retired Irish boxer. As an amateur he held an Irish national title and represented Ireland in the 1972 Olympic Games. As a professional he won the professional British and then European lightweight titles but lost to Jim Watt, when he challenged him for the

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

title. He has given several interviews about having to check several bodies laid out in a hospital morgue in order to identify that of his brother William, who was killed during the

Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...

massacre.

Amateur career

Nash was a member of his local St. Mary's boxing club, and won the junior championships at provincial level. After winning the senior title in Ulster in 1969 Nash then won the Irish National Senior Title in 1970. He was travelling back from a fight in Dublin where he represented St Mary's at the time his younger brother, Willie, was shot dead and their father, Alex, was shot and wounded during the

massacre.Peterkin, To
"Inquiry into Bloody Sunday 'poised to reopen old wounds'"
''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'', 13 June 2010 Eight months later, Nash was part of the Irish Olympic Team for the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany. Nash fought well at the 1972 Olympics but was knocked out of the competition in a quarterfinal by the eventual winner, Jan Szczpanski of Poland.

1972 Olympic results

Below are the results of Charlie Nash in the lightweight division at the 1972 Munich Olympics: *Round of 64: bye *Round of 32: Defeated Erik Madsen (Denmark) by decision, 5-0 *Round of 16: Defeated

Antonio Gin Antonio Gin (born 12 June 1955) is a Mexican boxer. He competed in the men's lightweight event at the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 ( ...

(Mexico) by first-round technical knockout *Quarterfinal: Lost to Jan Szczepański (Poland) by a third-round technical knockout

Pro career

In 1975 Nash was faced with the choice to keep on fighting as an amateur or turn professional and decided to become a professional boxer in order to provide a living for himself. Nash won the British and then European lightweight titles by fights arranged in the wake of abandoned vacant titles. The titles were left vacant by Jim Watt, whom many saw as running scared of Nash. It wasn't until 1980 that Nash finally got the chance to fight Watt - this time for the

lightweight title. The death of his manager Jack Solomon very close to the bout almost caused the fight to be called off. However, Nash found a new manager in

Mickey Duff Mickey Duff (7 June 1929 – 22 March 2014), was a Polish-born British boxer, matchmaker, manager and promoter. Early life Duff was born Monek Prager to a Jewish family in Tarnów, Poland on 7 June 1929. His father, a rabbi, helped the family ...

. This enabled the match to go ahead. Nash lost the match, and was bitterly disappointed.

Title defences

Later that year he successfully defended his European Title against

Francesco Leon Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sever ...

. This gave Nash a chance to answer his critics after the defeat to Watt earlier that year, but he then lost his next defence to Giuseppe Gibilisco after being knocked out in the 6th round. Nash fought four more times, retiring in 1983 after being stopped in 5 rounds by Rene Weller in Germany. He remained in the Derry area and stayed involved with the sport at Derry's Ring Boxing Club.

References

External links